Do you live paycheck to paycheck? When money is tight, saving money is as hard as it gets. You’re just trying to get by. So how do you save more money with a low income? Here are five save money solutions.
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Don’t go shopping when stressed out
Nothing good comes out of stress. Especially when you go out shopping to vent that frustration. Indeed, shopping therapy can be a short-term solution to boost your mood or moral. But how much is the effecting of shopping going to last? A couple of hours – half a day at best? Not only that but the clothes you usually end up with from your rampageous shopping sprees are not that great after all.
When you are feeling sad, try to indulge in activities that don’t cost money. You can talk to a friend, watch a movie, or go for a walk. If you still can’t get a grip on yourself and shopping is the only way you can feel a little better, read the very next solution.
Return anything you don’t need
Do you give into shopping therapy? Do you buy clothes, shoes and home decoration just for the sake of buying? Maybe you make purchases that you regret the very next day? If only you could turn back in time, you wouldn’t make that purchase, right? Too bad you don’t have any time-travelling abilities. But hold on a minute. You don’t really need to turn back in time – you can just return what you bought back to the store. And get your money back.
However, if you want to have the option to return everything you buy, there are a few requirements. First, you need to buy from stores that have a return policy. If they don’t, how are you going to return anything in the first place? Second, you need to keep the receipts of everything you buy. Third, you shouldn’t remove any tags. And in the case of clothes, don’t include them in your next laundry either.
And this is how you can buy – have a good time – regret – return – get your money back.
Don’t create accounts or save your data
Our next money-saving solution can come in handy when you shop online. So, whenever you make a purchase online, from eCommerce sites or otherwise, there are a couple of things you should avoid. The first is not creating an account to make the purchase. Most self-respecting e-stores give to all their customers the option to do a guest checkout. The second thing you should refrain from is storing your credit card information.
Avoiding saving such data on the browser on your PC, mobile or tablet makes it harder for the next time you are going shop impulsively. If this kind of data is stored, buying whatever next time will be but a click away.
Don’t use a credit card
Credit cards get millions of people in debt every single year.
If you have a low income, using a credit card is like digging your own grave. Having a credit card means adding more money owed on top of your regular expenses. There are some cases where a credit card purchase can actually save you money. Most of the time, however, the sum of money you will give in the end for a purchase, will be higher.
In general, anything that charges you money every month that you don’t need is something you should eliminate from your budget.
Downgrade from plans and cancel subscriptions
Is a fast internet connection as necessary as you think? How many Mbs do you think you need? Did you know that with just 10Mbps you can have as many as 3 devices in your house streaming HD-quality videos? You now do and you can save more money every month.
In addition, you can examine your monthly subscriptions. Are you subscribed to a weekly or monthly magazine? Do you have a cable TV? Those subscriptions add up. Maybe it’s time you canceled your TV subscription and got Netflix Premium or Amazon Prime Videos for a lot cheaper. Especially if you are willing to share your account with some friends, the cost of your entertainment can be lower than you may think.